Phi Delta Kappan
Closing the Achievement Gap by Detracking
April 2005
Journal Article
Carol Corbett Burris
Principal
South Side High School, Rockville Centre, NY
Kevin G. Welner
Assistant Professor
University of Colorado-Boulder
Retrieved 04/11/05 from
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Phi Delta Kappan
Closing the Achievement Gap by Detracking
April 2005
Carol Corbett Burris and Kevin G. Welner
<<<>>>
Retrieved 04/11/05 from
http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k_v86/k0504bur.htm
______________________________________________________________________________
THE most recent Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public
Schools found that 74% of Americans believe that the achievement gap between white
students and African American and Hispanic students is primarily due to factors unrelated to
the quality of schooling that children receive.1 This assumption is supported by research
dating back four decades to the Coleman Report and its conclusion that schools have little
impact on the problem.2 But is the pessimism of that report justified? Or is it possible for
schools to change their practices and thereby have a strongly positive effect on student
achievement? We have found that when all students -- those at the bottom as well as the
top of the "gap" -- have access to first-class learning opportunities, all students'
achievement can rise.
Because African American and Hispanic students are consistently overrepresented in lowtrack classes, the effects of tracking greatly concern educators who are interested in closing
the achievement gap.3 Detracking reforms are grounded in the established ideas that
higher achievement follows from a more rigorous curriculum and that low-track classes with
unchallenging curricula result in lower student achievement.4 Yet, notwithstanding the wide
acceptance of these ideas, we lack concrete case studies of mature detracking reforms and
their effects. This article responds to that shortage, describing how the school district in
which Carol Burris serves as a high school principal was able to close the gap by offering its
high-track curriculum to all students, in detracked classes.
Tracking and the Achievement Gap
Despite overwhelming research demonstrating the ineffectiveness of low-track classes and
of tracking in general, schools continue the practice.5 Earlier studies have argued that this
persistence stems from the fact that tracking is grounded in values, beliefs, and politics as
much as it is in technical, structural, or organizational needs.6 Further, despite inconsistent
research findings,7 many parents and educators assume that the practice benefits high
achievers. This is partly because parents of high achievers fear that detracking and
heterogeneous grouping will result in a "watered-down" curriculum and lowered learning
standards for their children.
This document is available on the Education Policy Studies Laboratory website at:
http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/EPRU/articles/EPSL-0505-111-EPRU.pdf
And so, despite the evidence that low-track classes cause harm, they continue to exist.
Worse still, the negative achievement effects of such classes fall disproportionately on
minority students, since, as noted above, African American and Hispanic students are
overrepresented in low-track classes and underrepresented in high-track classes, even after
controlling for prior measured achievement.8 Socioeconomic status (SES) has been found to
affect track assignment as well.9 A highly proficient student from a low socioeconomic
background has only a 50-50 chance of being placed in a high-track class.10
Researchers who study the relationship between tracking, race/ethnicity, and academic
performance suggest different strategies for closing the achievement gap. Some believe
that the solution is to encourage more minority students to take high-track classes.11
Others believe that if all students are given the enriched curriculum that high-achieving
students receive, achievement will rise.12 They believe that no students -- whatever their
race, SES, or prior achievement -- should be placed in classes that have a watered-down or
remedial academic curriculum and that the tracking system should be dismantled
entirely.13 In this article, we provide evidence for the success of this latter approach. By
dismantling tracking and providing the high-track curriculum to all, we can succeed in
closing the achievement gap on important measures of learning.
Providing 'High-Track' Curriculum to All Students
The Rockville Centre School District is a diverse suburban school district located on Long
Island. In the late 1990s, it embarked on a multiyear detracking reform that increased
learning expectations for all students. The district began replacing its tracked classes with
heterogeneously grouped classes in which the curriculum formerly reserved for the district's
high-track students was taught.
This reform began as a response to an ambitious goal set by the district's superintendent,
William Johnson, and the Rockville Centre Board of Education in 1993: By the year 2000,
75% of all graduates will earn a New York State Regents diploma. At that time, the district
and state rates of earning Regents diplomas were 58% and 38% respectively.
To qualify for a New York State Regents diploma, students must pass, at a minimum, eight
end-of-course Regents examinations, including two in mathematics, two in laboratory
sciences, two in social studies, one in English language arts, and one in a foreign language.
Rockville Centre's goal reflected the superintendent's strong belief in the external evaluation
of student learning as well as the district's commitment to academic rigor.
Regents exams are linked with coursework; therefore, the district gradually eliminated lowtrack courses. The high school eased the transition by offering students instructional
support classes and carefully monitoring the progress of struggling students.
While the overall number of Regents diplomas increased, a disturbing profile of students
who were not earning the diploma emerged. These students were more likely to be African
American or Hispanic, to receive free or reduced-price lunch, or to have a learning disability.
At the district's high school, 20% of all students were African American or Hispanic, 13%
received free and reduced-price lunch, and 10% were special education students. If these
graduates were to earn the Regents diploma, systemic change would need to take place to
close the gaps for each of these groups.
This document is available on the Education Policy Studies Laboratory website at:
http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/EPRU/articles/EPSL-0505-111-EPRU.pdf
Accelerated Mathematics in Heterogeneous Classes
On closer inspection of the data, educators noticed that the second math Regents exam
presented a stumbling block to earning the diploma. While high-track students enrolled in
trigonometry and advanced algebra in the 10th grade, low-track students did not even
begin first-year algebra until grade 10.
In order to provide all students with ample opportunity to pass the needed courses and to
study calculus prior to graduation, Superintendent Johnson decided that all students would
study the accelerated math curriculum formerly reserved for the district's highest achievers.
Under the leadership of the assistant principal, Delia Garrity, middle school math teachers
revised and condensed the curriculum. The new curriculum was taught to all students, in
heterogeneously grouped classes. To support struggling learners, the school initiated
support classes called math workshops and provided after-school help four afternoons a
week.
The results were remarkable. Over 90% of incoming freshmen entered the high school
having passed the first Regents math examination. The achievement gap dramatically
narrowed. Between the years of 1995 and 1997, only 23% of regular education African
American or Hispanic students had passed this algebra-based Regents exam before entering
high school. After universally accelerating all students in heterogeneously grouped classes,
the percentage more than tripled -- up to 75%. The percentage of white or Asian American
regular education students who passed the exam also greatly increased -- from 54% to
98%.
Detracking the High School
The district approached universal acceleration with caution. Some special education
students, while included in the accelerated classes, were graded using alternative
assessments. This 1998 cohort of special education students would not take the first
("Sequential I") Regents math exam until they had completed ninth grade. (We use year of
entry into ninth grade to determine cohort. So the 1998 cohort began ninth grade in the fall
of 1998.) On entering high school, these students with special needs were placed in a
double-period, low-track, "Sequential I" ninth-grade math class, along with low-achieving
new entrants. Consistent with the recommendations of researchers who have defended
tracking,14 this class was rich in resources (a math teacher, special education inclusion
teacher, and teaching assistant). Yet the low-track culture of the class remained
unconducive to learning. Students were disruptive, and teachers spent considerable class
time addressing behavior management issues. All students were acutely aware that the
class carried the "low-track" label.
District and school leaders decided that this low-track class failed its purpose, and the
district boldly moved forward with several new reforms the following year. All special
education students in the 1999 cohort took the exam in the eighth grade. The entire 1999
cohort also studied science in heterogeneous classes throughout middle school, and it
became the first cohort to be heterogeneously grouped in ninth-grade English and social
studies classes.
Ninth-grade teachers were pleased with the results. The tone, activities, and discussions in
the heterogeneously grouped classes were academic, focused, and enriched. Science
teachers reported that the heterogeneously grouped middle school science program
prepared students well for ninth-grade biology.
This document is available on the Education Policy Studies Laboratory website at:
http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/EPRU/articles/EPSL-0505-111-EPRU.pdf
Detracking at the high school level continued, paralleling the introduction of revised New
York State curricula. Students in the 2000 cohort studied the state's new biology curriculum,
"The Living Environment," in heterogeneously grouped classes. This combination of new
curriculum and heterogeneous grouping resulted in a dramatic increase in the passing rate
on the first science Regents exam, especially for minority students who were previously
overrepresented in the low-track biology class. After just one year of heterogeneous
grouping, the passing rate for African American and Hispanic students increased from 48%
to 77%, while the passing rate for white and Asian American students increased from 85%
to 94%.
The following September, the 2001 cohort became the first class to be heterogeneously
grouped in all subjects in the ninth grade. The state's new multiyear "Math A" curriculum
was taught to this cohort in heterogeneously grouped classes in both the eighth and ninth
grades.
In 2003, some 10th-grade classes detracked. Students in the 2002 cohort became the first
to study a heterogeneously grouped pre-International Baccalaureate (IB) 10th-grade
curriculum in English and social studies. To help all students meet the demands of an
advanced curriculum, the district provides every-other-day support classes in math, science,
and English language arts. These classes are linked to the curriculum and allow teachers to
pre- and post-teach topics to students needing additional reinforcement.
Closing the Gap on Other Measures That Matter
New York's statewide achievement gap in the earning of Regents diplomas has persisted. In
2000, only 19.3% of all African American or Hispanic 12th-graders and 58.7% of all white
or Asian American 12th-graders graduated with Regents diplomas. By 2003, while the
percentage of students in both groups earning the Regents diploma increased (26.4% of
African American or Hispanic students, 66.3% of white or Asian American students), the gap
did not close.
In contrast, Rockville Centre has seen both an increase in students' rates of earning Regents
diplomas and a decrease in the gap between groups (see Figure 1). For those students who
began South Side High School in 1996 (the graduating class of 2000), 32% of all African
American or Hispanic and 88% of all white or Asian American graduates earned Regents
diplomas. By the time the cohort of 1999 graduated in 2003, the gap had closed
dramatically -- 82% of all African American or Hispanic and 97% of all white or Asian
American graduates earned Regents diplomas. In fact, a close inspection of Figure 1 shows
that for this 1999 cohort (the first to experience detracking in all middle school and most
ninth-grade subjects), the Regents diploma rate for the district's minority students
surpassed New York State's rate for white or Asian American students.
This document is available on the Education Policy Studies Laboratory website at:
http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/EPRU/articles/EPSL-0505-111-EPRU.pdf
In order to ensure that the narrowing of the gap was not attributable to a changing
population, we used binary logistic regression analyses to compare the probability of
earning a Regents diploma before and after detracking. In addition to membership in a
detracked cohort, the model included socioeconomic and special education status as
covariates. Those students who were members of the 1996 and 1997 cohorts were
compared with members of the 1998-2000 cohorts. We found that membership in a cohort
subsequent to the detracking of middle school math was a significant contributor to earning
a Regents diploma (p< .0001). In addition, low-SES students and special education
students in the 2001 cohort also showed sharp improvement.
These same three cohorts (1998-2000) showed significant increases in the probability of
minority students' studying advanced math courses. Controlling for prior achievement and
SES, minority students' enrollment in trigonometry, precalculus, and Advanced Placement
calculus all grew.15 And as more students from those cohorts studied AP calculus, the
enrollment gap decreased from 38% to 18% in five years, and the AP calculus scores
significantly increased (p<.01).
Finally, detracking in the 10th grade, combined with teaching all students the pre-IB
curriculum, appears to be closing the gap in the study of the IB curriculum. This year 50%
This document is available on the Education Policy Studies Laboratory website at:
http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/EPRU/articles/EPSL-0505-111-EPRU.pdf
of all minority students will study IB English and "History of the Americas" in the 11th
grade. In the fall of 2003, only 31% chose to do so.
Achievement follows from opportunities -- opportunities that tracking denies. The results of
detracking in Rockville Centre are clear and compelling. When all students were taught the
high-track curriculum, achievement rose for all groups of students -- majority, minority,
special education, low-SES, and high-SES. This evidence can now be added to the larger
body of tracking research that has convinced the Carnegie Council for Adolescent
Development, the National Governors' Association, and most recently the National Research
Council to call for the reduction or elimination of tracking.16 The Rockville Centre reform
confirms common sense: closing the "curriculum gap" is an effective way to close the
"achievement gap."
CAROL CORBETT BURRIS is the principal of South Side High School, Rockville Centre,
N.Y.
KEVIN G. WELNER is an assistant professor in the School of Education, University of
Colorado, Boulder.
This document is available on the Education Policy Studies Laboratory website at:
http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/EPRU/articles/EPSL-0505-111-EPRU.pdf
Notes and References
1. Lowell C. Rose and Alec M. Gallup, "The 36th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the
Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools," Phi Delta Kappan, September 2004, p. 49.
2. James Coleman et al., Equality of Educational Opportunity (Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1966).
3. Kevin G. Welner, Legal Rights, Local Wrongs: When Community Control Collides with
Educational Equity (Albany: SUNY Press, 2001).
4. Clifford Adelman, Answers in the Tool Box: Academic Intensity, Attendance Patterns, and
Bachelor's Degree Attainment (Washington, D.C.: Office of Educational Research, U.S.
Department of Education, 1999), available on the Web at www.ed.gov/pubs/Toolbox; Henry
Levin, Accelerated Schools for At-Risk Students (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University,
Center for Policy Research in Education, Report No. 142, 1988); Mano Singham, "The
Achievement Gap: Myths and Realities," Phi Delta Kappan, April 2003, pp. 586-91; and Jay
P. Heubert and Robert M. Hauser, High Stakes: Testing for Tracking, Promotion, and
Graduation (Washington, D.C.: National Research Council, 1999).
5. Jeannie Oakes, Adam Gamoran, and Reba Page, "Curriculum Differentiation:
Opportunities, Outcomes, and Meanings," in Philip Jackson, ed., Handbook of Research on
Curriculum (New York: Macmillan, 1992), pp. 570-608.
6. Welner, op. cit.
7. Frederick Mosteller, Richard Light, and Jason Sachs, "Sustained Inquiry in Education:
Lessons from Skill Grouping and Class Size," Harvard Educational Review, vol. 66, 1996, pp.
797-843; Robert Slavin, "Achievement Effects of Ability Grouping in Secondary Schools: A
Best-Evidence Synthesis," Review of Educational Research, vol. 60, 1990, pp. 471-500; and
James Kulik, An Analysis of the Research on Ability Grouping: Historical and Contemporary
Perspectives (Storrs, Conn.: National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented,
University of Connecticut, 1992).
8. Roslyn Mickelson, "Subverting Swann: First- and Second-Generation Segregation in
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools," American Educational Research Journal, vol. 38, 2001, pp.
215-52; Robert Slavin and Jomills Braddock II, "Ability Grouping: On the Wrong Track,"
College Board Review, Summer 1993, pp. 11-17; and Welner, op. cit.
9. Samuel Lucas, Tracking Inequality: Stratification and Mobility in American High Schools
(New York: Teachers College Press, 1999).
10. Beth E. Vanfossen, James D. Jones, and Joan Z. Spade, "Curriculum Tracking and
Status Maintenance," Sociology of Education, vol. 60, 1987, pp. 104-22.
11. John Ogbu, Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb (Mahwah, N.J.: Erlbaum,
2003).
12. Levin, op. cit.; and Slavin and Braddock, op. cit.
13. Jeannie Oakes and Amy Stuart Wells, "Detracking for High Student Achievement,"
Educational Leadership, March 1998, pp. 38-41; and Susan Yonezawa, Amy Stuart Wells,
and Irene Sema, "Choosing Tracks: 'Freedom of Choice' in Detracking Schools," American
Educational Research Journal, vol. 39, 2002, pp. 37-67.
14. Maureen Hallinan, "Tracking: From Theory to Practice," Sociology of Education, vol. 67,
1994, pp. 79-91; and Tom Loveless, The Tracking Wars: State Reform Meets School Policy
(Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 1999).
15. Carol Corbett Burris, Jay P. Heubert, and Henry M. Levin, "Math Acceleration for All,"
Educational Leadership, February 2004, pp. 68-71.
16. Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, Turning Points: Preparing American Youth
for the 21st Century (New York: Carnegie Corporation, 1989); Ability Grouping and
Tracking: Current Issues and Concerns (Washington, D.C.: National Governors Association,
1993); and National Research Council, Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students'
Motivation to Learn (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2004).
This document is available on the Education Policy Studies Laboratory website at:
http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/EPRU/articles/EPSL-0505-111-EPRU.pdf